Back in February, in the town of Robbins, southwest of Chicago, three teenagers stole a KIA and took off in a high-speed chase. They wound up crashing the stolen vehicle into a car being driven by 70-year-old Donald Carter. Carter was killed in the crash. An investigation was launched (sort of) and questions were raised about how it was being handled. Now, months later, the teenagers have all been released and no charges have been filed against them. David Carter’s family is apoplectic, as you might imagine. And the more details that we learn about the entire incident, specifically the involvement of Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant, the more it smells like something is really rotten in that town. (American Wire)
Police in the village of Robbins, which is southwest of Chicago, announced that no charges have been filed against three teenagers who stole a Kia in February and then crashed it into 70-year-old Donald Carter’s car, killing him.
Carter’s family has been outraged that no charges have been forthcoming against the teenagers.
Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant fired Police Chief David Sheppard in April following the incident after the chief repeatedly questioned behavior coming from the mayor’s office, according to The Southland Journal.
We’ll take a brief look at the timeline of events and you can judge for yourself. Almost immediately after the crash, Mayor Bryant told Police Chief David Sheppard to have Carter’s vehicle moved to a town building where road salt was kept. Sheppard objected, saying that doing so would break the chain-of-custody rules and potentially spoil a court case.
The Mayor persisted, saying that the crashed vehicle was blocking public works vehicles. The car was moved, with Sheppard’s objections being noted. Sheppard later called public works and was told that there had been no issue with blocking traffic and they didn’t know what the Mayor was talking about. A few weeks later, the Mayor fired the Police Chief.
Initially, the teenagers involved were all reported to be 13 years old. But they turned out to be 17, 15, and 14 according to a statement from a police spokesman last week. So at least one of them was old enough to drive. The spokesman said he did not know how the incorrect ages were recorded initially. But it’s worth noting that the teens were released the same day because under state law they could only be held for a limited time if they were 13.
The Robbins PD claims to have finished their investigation six weeks ago and turned over all of their findings to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. Then nothing else was heard and now the teenagers are walking free and it doesn’t appear that any charges will be filed.
Click through to the source article to see some social media responses from Donald Carter’s family and other residents of the town. People are up in arms and they’re not getting any answers. Everything about this supposed investigation stinks and the smell seems to be coming from the Mayor’s office, but I’ll leave you to be the judge of that.
